Gryphons score early, race past visiting Gray's Creek

Rocky Mount’s Erin Cooke, left, kicks the ball against Hope Mills Gray’s Creek’s Grace Trull Tuesday during the first round of the NCHSAA 3-A state playoffs at Rocky Mount High School.
©Telegram photo / Abbi O’Leary

Rocky Mount’s Katie Moss, right, kicks the ball past Hope Mills Gray’s Creek’s Jade Morrison Tuesday during the first round of the NCHSAA 3-A state playoffs at Rocky Mount High School.
©Telegram photo / Abbi O’Leary

Rocky Mount’s Barkley Browder, left, battles for the ball against Hope Mills Gray’s Creek’s Cheyenne Strickland Tuesday during the first round of the NCHSAA 3-A state playoffs at Rocky Mount High School.
©Telegram photo / Abbi O’Leary

It didn’t take very long for Rocky Mount High to dent the scoreboard Tuesday.

The Gryphons started with the ball and made a few quick passes that ended with Schuyler Moss finding Sarah Bland with an ideal through pass that placed Bland one-on-one with the goalie. The junior wasted little time in taking a dribble and unleashing a shot over Makenzie Jones just 21 seconds into the match.

Bland would end up scoring three times to add to her 3-A leading total that now stands at 58, and the 10th-seeded Gryphons eased past No. 23 Hope Mills Gray’s Creek, 5-0, in the first round of the NCHSAA 3-A playoffs.

“Every time you go into a lose-or-go-home type of situation, you’re always a little nervous,” coach Jordan Musselwhite said. ”To get one really quickly let some of the butterflies go a little bit and allowed us to play loose the rest of the game.”

Rocky Mount High scored three times in the opening 15 minutes and it looked as though it would be only a matter of time before the Gryphons ended the match by mercy rule. But the Gryphons became sloppy in front of goal, blasting open chances over the goal or right at Jones.

The missed chances were frustrating for the Gryphons, but Musselwhite said he wasn’t too concerned with the poor finishing rate around the goal.

“We played some of our best soccer in spurts there,” Musselwhite said. ”We had plenty of opportunities to score, I wish our conversion rate was a bit better given the amount of shots that we had, but pleased with the effort. … Some games our finishing is just better than others.”

Bland said she felt a notable dip in effort after those first 15 minutes that definitely affected how well the Gryphons played offensively.

“We didn’t have the same intensity that we did in the first 15 minutes,” Bland said. ”We weren’t going to the ball or winning 50/50s, but having 3-0 on the board really helped us. Coming into the second half, we had to pick it back up (and we did that).”

Despite the fact Rocky Mount High dominated the possession for the most part, the Gryphons’ defense came through when called upon. Gray’s Creek found a few chances to counterattack and posed a few dangerous threats to the shutout.

Yet, each time someone on the Gryphons’ backline made a critical tackle or deflected the shot to give goalkeeper Ty Arrington an easier play.

“When we were called on to get a tackle in or get a foot on the ball, the defense definitely stepped up and played a lights out game,” Musselwhite said.

Bland’s second goal of the match was the result of crafty footwork to avoid two lunging legs from the Bears’ defense before beating Jones with a low shot to the corner. The junior almost completed her hat-trick in the first 15 minutes, but her shot hit the post and bounced to Erin Cooke, who tapped it home.

The fourth goal was almost identical to the first except this time it was Cooke playing Bland into space for an easy finish, and Moss finished the scoring by poking home a loose ball in the box in the middle of a scrum that resulted from a corner kick.

The Gryphons will host Richlands on Saturday in the second round of the playoffs. Musselwhite said he is confident his team’s ability to score won’t be an issue, but is hoping for stronger play in the middle of the field on loose balls.

“(We need to work on) taking balls out of the air a little bit better,” Musselwhite said. ”It didn’t really hurt us (Tuesday), but it’s going to hurt us in the future if we can’t win more balls off the goalkeeper’s punts.”

Rocky Mount High 5

Hope Mills Gray’s Creek 0

Goals: Sarah Bland (1’, 9’ and 48’); Erin Cooke (15’); Schuyler Moss (59’);

Assists: Sarah Bland, 1; Barkley Browder, 1; Erin Cooke, 1; ; Scuyler Moss, 1;

Shots: Rocky Mount High — 26 (18 on goal); Hope Mills Gray’s Creek — 4 (2 on goal);

Saves: Ty Arrington (RMH), 2; Makenzie Jones (HMGC), 12;

by Josh Walfish
Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Tuesday, May 10, 2016